CLEARLAKE –Following about four hours of deliberation, a jury Thursday convicted Christopher Adam Sanders, 31, of Clearlake of several crimes related to sexual assault of a minor, according to Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg, who prosecuted the case.
Based on the nature of several of the charges, Sanders is not eligible for probation.
Sentencing is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. July 1 in South Lake County Superior Court Department 4 in Clearlake. The matter was referred to the Lake County Probation Office for a pre-sentence report.
Sanders was remanded into custody pending sentencing.
“Mr. Sanders faces a minimum period of incarceration of 15 years and a maximum period of 35 years,” Borg stated. “Because four of the five counts of which he was convicted are violent felonies, Mr. Sanders will have to serve 85 percent of whatever term the judge selects.”
Sanders was convicted of the following charges: lewd act with a child, two counts of lewd act with a child by duress; sexual abuse of a child and statutory rape.
The trial began on April 20 in South Lake County Superior Court Department 4 with the Honorable Stephen O. Hedstrom presiding. Borg stated that testimony at the trial established that Sanders began sexually assaulting the victim, who was his step-daughter, in late summer of 2005, when the girl was 11 years old. “He told the victim that if she reported the abuse, she would be the one to get into trouble and that she would be taken away from her mother and never see her mother again,” Borg stated. “Mr. Sanders sexually assaulted the victim repeatedly until late December 2008, when the victim was 15. On Jan. 4, 2009, after a conversation with a friend who had been sexually assaulted, the victim reported the ongoing abuse to her mother.”
The matter was reported to the Clearlake Police Department and after an investigation headed by then-detective T. Hobbs, Sanders was arrested shortly after midnight on Jan. 5, 2009.
Borg stated during a post-arrest interview, Sanders, after being fully advised of his rights, gave a statement in which he admitted multiple sexual contacts with his step-daughter; although he claimed that she initiated the sexual encounters. “According to the testimony of Roberta Bell, R.N., who performed a forensic examination of the victim, she observed abnormal findings, which were consistent with the history of sexual abuse described by the victim,” Borg stated.
The victim received services from the District Attorney”s Victim Witness Department, Victim Advocate Crystal Martin. District Attorney Investigator Von McPherson also participated in the investigation.
“The Lake County District Attorney”s Office commends the victim for her courage in coming forward and testifying in open court as to the various abuses committed against her by Mr. Sanders,” Borg stated. Sanders was represented by Chris Andrian, of Santa Rosa.
